Here’s the thing to remember about winning the College Football Playoff national championship – it’s really, really, really impossible.

First, you have to win your Power Five conference – or be amazing and come really close. Second, you have to win that league and go unbeaten or lose just one game. And then, if you pass those two tests, you still have to beat Alabama.

So while it might seem like fun to pick a team to win the national championship because you have a feeling, a hunch, or just want to, you’re almost certainly going to be wrong.

Just … Don’t

Oh, go ahead and throw down a few bucks if you love a certain team and like to dream the impossible dream. Or you could take your money and go by a huge thing of nachos. It’ll all end up in the same place.

UNLV 9999/1

Rutgers 9999/1

Nevada 9999/1

Kansas 9999/1

Oregon State 9999/1

Illinois 9999/1

Appalachian State 9999/1

Colorado State 5000/1

BYU 5000/1

Virginia 2000/1

Vanderbilt 2000/1

USF 2000/1

Texas Tech 2000/1

San Diego State 2000/1

North Carolina 2000/1

Memphis 2000/1

Maryland 2000/1

Kentucky 2000/1

Fresno State 2000/1

Indiana 2000/1

Colorado 2000/1

California 2000/1

Baylor 2000/1

Arkansas 2000/1

Arizona State 2000/1

Tennessee 1000/1

Syracuse 1000/1

Pitt 1000/1

Florida Atlantic 1000/1

Duke 1000/1

Washington State 500/1

Wake Forest 500/1

Purdue 500/1

Northwestern 500/1

Minnesota 500/1

Louisville 500/1

Houston 500/1

Georgia Tech 500/1

Boston College 500/1

NC State 300/1

Kansas State 300/1

Iowa State 300/1

Iowa 300/1

Arizona 200/1

UCF 200/1

Boise State 200/1

Utah 100/1

Texas A&M 100/1

Nebraska 100/1

Missouri 100/1

Mississippi State 100/1

Virginia Tech 80/1

West Virginia 60/1

Related

Longshots

None of these teams are going to win the College Football Playoff national championship, but … you could make a reasonable case that one of them might get close if the planets are perfectly aligned. Yes, 2015 Iowa didn’t get into the CFP, but they came within a late stop of getting there.

These teams have the potential to at least get into a conference title game, and then have something – like a veteran head coach, or a power program pedigree – that could be enough to make it fun.